INDEPENDENCE OF SCOTLAND MUST BE AN OPTION: NICOLA
LONDON : Flaying what she said was London’s lack of planning for a Brexit vote, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Monday independence must be an option for the pro-EU Scotland if its interests were not protected in negotiations with Brussels.
Scotland voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the European Union in the June 23 referendum and is keen to continue its access to the European single market and engagement in other levels of the union. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government started initial talks with EU leaders last week.
“The absence of any leadership and the lack of any advance planning both from the politicians who proposed the referendum and from those who campaigned for a leave vote must count as one of the most shameful abdications of responsibility in modern political history,” Sturgeon said in Edinburgh.
“If we find our interests can't be protected in the UK context, independence must be an option and Scotland must have the right to consider it,” she said.
Scotland last voted in a referendum on independence in 2014, with 55% voting against leaving the UK and 44 % in favour.